Jenna Anderson looked at her poorly painted glitter
nails. She had followed the tutorial and all of her friends loved their
results. She sighed and said to herself,
“I let my Pinterest turn me into a dreamer who imagined she could do anything.”
Jenna’s disappointment of Pinterest’s high
expectations hasn’t been the only one. If fact, more young moms have been
experiencing this inadequacy.
TodayMOMS.com surveyed moms across the nation and 42
percent (7,000 moms) felt at some point while having their account they have
suffered from Pinterest stress. This undiagnosed suffering is caused from the
feeling inadequate when it comes to craftiness and creativity.
Pinterest stress can affect anyone who is trying to
create the perfect replica of a pin. Let’s say there was a great cupcake recipe
someone wanted to try. They think it will be perfect for their friend’s
birthday party.
So they spend all day baking and making sure
everything is correct. When they come out of the oven, the delicious cupcakes
turn out to be homemade, burnt moon craters.
100 women on Facebook were asked if they felt they
had Pinterest Stress, 36 of them said they did.
One woman said, “If you don't cook like this,
decorate like this, or party like this you are the odd ball out.”
In a study done at BYU-Idaho of 63 female students, 33
percent said when they try to create something off of Pinterest, it never looks
as good as the picture.
According to the Huffington post average time spent
on Pinterest each visit is close to 16 minuets.
The BYU-Idaho study showed female students spend
about 4½ hours on Pinterest a week.
All of this time pinning seems to have created this
world where perfection is seen through screens and causes the anxiety, stress,
and inadequacy users have felt.
Andersen said when asked about Pinterest stress,
“Pinterest is glossy and pretty and perfect, and when we spend time on that
site we can forget that there is always more to the story. Kitchens covered in
flour, kids crying their way through craft projects, photographs that don't
turn out no matter how much time you spend in Photoshop.”
The notion of a growing trend of Pinterest users
having this stress decreases the sites real intent.
The Pinterest team has stated about their intent,
“Pinterest is a tool for collecting and organizing the things that inspire
you.”
The key word is inspired. The team did not say
Pinterest was a way to compare to others or to feel insufficient.
 |
|
Andersen is from Sao
Palo Calif. Pictured
with her are her two children. She has over 100 boards
on
Pinterest.
|
Luckily,
not all Pinterest users are crying over their burnt cookies and uneven sewing
projects.
After her failed nail art project, Jenna Andersen,
author of the hilarious site Pinterest Fail, has found therapy through it, “Pinterest
Fail for me is that it's a place where we laugh with each
other about our fails, not at others and their failed
projects.”
Pinterest Fail is an open blog site
where people can post their failed attempts at a Pinterest project and get
feedback from other people who view the site.
With over 18,000 Facebook likes, Jenna has created a
safe haven for those who have dealt with Pinterest stress.
According to the Facebook answers, moms over 35 were
less likely to have Pinterest stress than younger moms.
Allison Stayner, mom of 5 children and over 35 said
Pinterest stress doesn’t even faze her, “My life and family are far from
perfect. I think this helps me be happier with less. My neighbor and I have
this saying 'If you lower your expectations you'll be happier.'”
These expectations include those from using
Pinterest too much and trying to recreate the perfect teacher appreciation gift
or making the next best birthday party decorations.
Stayner has been a Pinterest user for about 2 years
with approximately 1,200 pins. She has made several projects from her account.
She loves to make new recipes and she has tried a few that were a success.
Said Stayner about those who may have Pinterest
stress, “Some people who have type A personalities naturally are more easily
stressed out about smaller things. I know some ladies like this and I feel sad
for them( and a little annoyed ). I think it makes it harder for them to be
happy with their lives.”
It seems that the younger a Pinterest user is, the
less likely they are to suffer from Pinterest stress. Those who have
experienced it, like Anderson, have found a way to work their way out of the
perfection bubble.
In the BYU-Idaho study, 46 percent of female
students go on Pinterest to actually relieve stress and 89 percent said
Pinterest had increased their creativity and given them new ideas.
One student, Alice Wise, has used the Pinterest site
in her own way, “Usually, I try and make it a goal to put my own spin on it
(for example, using a different colour scheme on a craft to match my
house,etc.). That way, I know it won't look the same because I'm purposefully
not trying to make it identical and then I'm not as disappointed. If it looks
rubbish, then it's my own fault.”
Alice has had her account for over 2 years and has
about 1,800 pins. She likes to use her boards for finding quotes that she likes
and recipes. The recipes that she has tried out were all successful.
When asked about Pinterest stress, she said, “I
think when people pin things, they completely throw reality out of the window
and think that they can perfectly replicate something that someone else has
done. You can't do that in real life. I also think that Pinterest has been put
on too high a pedestal and it is up there serving as this idol of perfection...
it's like if your house doesn't have a perfect burlap wreath or you don't have
a coffee table made out of wooden crates, you're seriously lacking.”
With experiences such as Anderson’s, Stayner’s and
Wise’s the real intent of Pinterest is still out there for users to recognize.
Since creating Pinterest Fail, Andersen has learned
that, “the important part is the way the cake tastes and the smile I see on my
son's face as he tells me how much he loves it, not what the cake looks like.”
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